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But in front of him his defenders were in top form whilst at the other end of the pitch Robbie showed us his Bad Beat Bob underpants again after winning it with his second goal in a week after another inspirational cameo as a second half substitute.
It would be too easy to dismiss this as a fortunate win. Yes, we were under the cosh at times and no more so than in the early stages of the second half. But the much changed defence, along with the Beast and occasionally the woodwork, stopped all Reading could throw at us.
We were concerned about the defence ahead of kick off. Steven Caldwell had come off at Charlton with a hip injury and he was rated doubtful as was Clarke Carlisle who was suffering with a hamstring injury.
The good news was that Caldwell made it but there was further bad news with Michael Duff reporting in ill. That meant Stephen Jordan coming into the centre of the defence with Graham Alexander moving to right back and Chris Eagles getting his first start since he was sent off against Plymouth at the end of August.
There's no doubt that Reading were the better side in the opening stages of the game. I thought they had been the better of the two sides in our meeting earlier in the month but they were looking even better in this one.
We were thankful to Jensen for being level after his double save. He did really well to get down to parry the first effort but to then get across to deal with the rebound was top drawer stuff and he deserved the good fortune of seeing the ball run away from goal before they could have a third stab at it.
There was nothing he, or anyone else, could do about the next Reading shot at goal as Doyle hit his effort against the foot of the post. At this stage we could say we were fortunate to be level but we started to come into the game and could so easily have had a goal of our own.
There was an almighty scramble in the Reading box Steven Thompson was definitely involved, getting the first shot away, but the ball just wouldn't drop for any of our players and Reading were able to clear.
For the rest of the first half it was end to end stuff. The closest Reading came was a looping effort from Stephen Hunt which Jensen tipped over but we came close twice. Firstly Thompson had a headed chance that he didn't make the most of and then right at the end of the half Martin Paterson had the best chance so far. He was played in by Joey Gudjonsson but failed to get a shot in when it looked odds on we'd go in front.
Still I think we were all thankful to be level at half time against the best side that we'd played all season. We'd worked our socks off to still be in the game and for that alone we deserved it.
If the first half had been difficult then it got even more so as Reading upped their game at the start of the second half. For a while it seemed to be one attack after another. We defended resolutely. We got blocks in, we got tackles in, and in fairness we rode our luck. And when they did beat our defenders there was Jensen looking almost unbeatable.
The double save was excellent, and he himself picked it out as his best, but I'm not so sure. There were two close together in the second half that were ones to savour. The first was that superb reaction save to deny Bikey via the post and it was followed by one to his right after an effort had got a deflection.
Between those two they hit the woodwork again. From a James Harper free kick Kevin Doyle got in a superb header that looped over everyone before hitting the corner of post and bar.
During all this pressure Owen Coyle had replaced Paterson with Blake and this was to be a telling factor, but not until we'd been hit with more defensive problems. Jay Rodriguez was just about to be introduced when the plans were changed with Christian Kalvenes down injured.
He couldn't continue and Kevin McDonald returned from his own injury with Chris McCann moving to the centre of defence and Jordan going to left back. Jay did get on a few minutes later for Thompson and then came the big moment in the game.
The defence and the inspired Jensen had kept us in it, now Robbie went and won it for us. Alexander got a header out of defence that found Robbie just over the half way line. With one touch he played the perfect pass to Wade Elliott and the winger progressed before returning it to Blake.
It was pure Robbie from that point. He turned, got into the D on the edge of the box and with virtually half the Reading team surrounding him he placed a delightful left foot shot right into the bottom corner. Marcus Hahnemann had no chance.
I'm sure the handful of Reading fans couldn't believe it. Their side pushed forward for an equaliser but in truth they never really threatened one. The nearest we got to another goal was from Robbie again who was unfortunate to see his effort go into the side netting.
The referee allowed four minutes of stoppage time, I think that was perhaps it was the first decision this most inept of officials had made all night, but there was no stopping us from winning this and we played out those extra minutes comfortably.
There's no doubt who the man of the match is. When your goalkeeper makes a string of saves like that in any game you can't really look elsewhere. But don't let that cloud the view that this really was, in so many ways, a good performance.
We really did come up against a very good side, and a very good side that was playing on top of their game. Most of them were playing regular Premier League football last season and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them playing there again next season.
But we held in there, we defended resolutely, and in all honesty our performance deserved something. And when you've got the little magician up front to score a goal like that anything can happen. Robbie, and his underpants, can't be far away from another start in the side.
Apart from the much needed first win of the season at Forest I would say this victory has given me the biggest lift all season. We've come up against the best this league can offer and we've beaten them.
The teams were;
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Christian Kalvenes (Kevin McDonald 71), Wade Elliott, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Chris Eagles, Martin Paterson (Robbie Blake 58), Steven Thompson (Jay Rodriguez 78). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Remco van der Schaaf.
Reading: Marcus Hahnemann, Liam Rosenior, Ivar Ingimarsson, Andre Bikey, Chris Armstrong, Jimmy Kebe, Kalifa Cisse, James Harper, Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle, Noel Hunt. Subs not used: Mikkel Andersen, Alex Pearce, Jem Karacan, Marek Matejovsky, Shane Long.
Referee: Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire).
Attendance: 11,538.